Very large home, 2x base stations. VMB4540

[kerdon]

Can I link the two VMB4540s?

Have one on one side of the house and one on the other.  As 4 cameras on one side can't pick up the 5th across the house.  If we add another VMB4540.  Can I have the two bases on one system and almost 'mesh' the camera?

[Dannybear]

Yes, you can have multiple base stations with your cameras on same account. They will both need to be Ethernet cabled back to the router. You will need to have individual USB backup storage for cameras on each base.

[kerdon]

Will they not go to the cloud storage plan we have with Arlo?

[Dannybear]

Yes, you retain the arlo 7days free cloud storage for cameras prior to the ultra cameras that were released back in 2018 with a subscription requirement. Arlo Wire free, pro and pro2 came with the 7days cloud.

The VMB4540 Base station has the direct access storage feature to backup and view on the app, hence the reference to needing a USB storage for the second base station.

[kerdon]

But we have Arlo Secure

[Dannybear]

If you have arlo secure subscription then you are paying for the cloud storage.

[kerdon]

I get that but I am trying to synch the two bases to synch

[Dannybear]

Do you have two base stations units?
Both units will need to be cabled to the router.

[kerdon]

Yes two bases, I have a Mesh system through MOCA

[Dannybear]

So you’re saying that you are using the MOCA backhaul to extend the Ethernet cable to the second base station but the arlo app is not allowing you to add it to your arlo account?

[StephenB]

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@kerdon wrote:

Can I link the two VMB4540s?

Have one on one side of the house and one on the other.  As 4 cameras on one side can't pick up the 5th across the house.  If we add another VMB4540.  Can I have the two bases on one system and almost 'mesh' the camera?

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Not sure, but it looks like the back-and-forth has gotten off track - so I am circling back to the original question.

The base stations and smarthubs do not form a mesh network, but you can have multiple base stations in the same account.  When you add a second base, you will need to remove the 5th camera from the base (and account), and then re-add it to the new base.

All Arlo base stations/smarthubs need to be connected to the internet with ethernet, so you do need to make sure you can get ethernet to the location where you want the second base.  In addition to the obvious "run a cable", you can use powerline networking or a wifi extender to accomplish this.  Mesh satellites often do have ethernet out (similar to an extender).

Since the bases would be in the same account, you would have full access to the cloud library for all cameras from your app.  The modes of the two bases are independent, so the 5th camera would need its own schedule if you use that feature.

You haven't said what camera models you own - but some cameras (Pro 3 floodlight, Pro 4, Essential) can connect either to a base station/smarthub, or to your home wifi.  So an alternative to buying a second base is to buy one of these cameras and connect it to your home mesh wifi.

Your multicamera Arlo Secure subscription would cover all the cameras in the account (no matter how they are connected).